


A Tender Moment

by admiralandrea



Series: Season 10 tags [3]
Category: NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Tag, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-01 11:46:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18799714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/admiralandrea/pseuds/admiralandrea
Summary: Sam comforts Callen after the events of "No More Secrets"





	A Tender Moment

**Author's Note:**

> This is a tag to 10.22 "No More Secrets". Reluctant to say more so I don't spoil it for anyone. This ep really messed with my head. I couldn't write anything with sexyfuntimes in response, so this is all emotions. It's written for the Exposure/Exhibitionism square of my Kink Bingo card because for Callen it's emotional exposure. And as this is my challenge, I can work it how I want, right?

When Callen finally walked away from his father’s grave, he found his partner waiting at his car. The others had left; Hetty was shepherding Alex, so that Callen didn’t have to worry about “being strong” for her today. Kensi and Deeks had taken on the role of distracting Jake, because he’d taken a shine to them after he’d fixed the streaming TV’s in their bar. Eric and Nell had been there as well, offering support. The surprise had been Rogers turning up, but he claimed he was only there to keep an eye on Arkady, who had come to pay his respects to his old friend.

Sam had been a strong presence at his side all day, not saying much, but offering his support all the same. It was what had made the day bearable for Callen, as he went through the necessary rituals of grief and death. 

“You ready?” Sam asked, as Callen reached him.

Callen nodded. “Let’s go,” he said.

Sam stood up from his lean, pulling Callen into a brief, strong hug first, before opening his door. Callen barely had time to put his arms around his partner in return, before Sam was pulling away again. Callen circled the car to the passenger side, loosening his tie and taking off his jacket. He was ready for a change of scenery and Hetty had finagled them a week of leave, even though Callen had already had the last few weeks off.

“This is vacation, Mr Callen, that is different to bereavement leave,” she’d said when he’d questioned her and he didn’t have it in him to argue, not after everything else she’d done for him.

“You’re sure you don’t mind?” he’d turned to Sam to ask. “I know you were planning to spend time with the kids for your vacation.”

Sam had shook his head. “They both are looking forward to spending time with friends,” he explained. “We’ll still get plenty of time together in the summer.”

“Okay,” Callen knew when it was best to admit defeat and give in to the plans of others.

So they were headed to Sam’s boat and were going to sail up the coast for a quiet week away from it all. 

The journey was uneventful and mostly silent. Callen was emotionally drained after the last few weeks and Sam respected that, leaving the radio off and not trying to make conversation. Callen gradually relaxed and after a while, closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off to sleep.

*

When Callen opened his eyes, they were stopped at the marina where Sam’s boat was currently docked. Sam was smiling fondly at him and Callen grimaced, rubbing at his mouth, wondering if he was drooling or something.

“C’mon Sleeping Beauty,” Sam said with a smirk.

Callen glared at him, but Sam just laughed, so Callen pushed his door open and went to the trunk to grab his go bag.

In short order, they were on the “Michelle” and ready to go. They changed out of their suits, making sure not to wrinkle them, as they were NCIS wardrobe and neither wanted to risk the wrath of Hetty when they got back. Sam handed the groceries over to Callen to put away, while he got them under way.

After a while, Callen wandered out on deck and into the wheelhouse, holding out a beer to his partner, who nodded as he accepted the bottle. They clinked them together and sipped at the same time.

“Where we headed?” Callen asked casually, not really that bothered.

Sam shrugged. “I thought we’d go towards Ventura,” he said.

“The Channel Islands?” Callen asked.

Sam nodded agreement. “To start with at least,” he said.

“Sounds good,” Callen agreed. “I’m going to enjoy my beer in the sun.”

“Sure,” Sam said. 

*

They spent the night anchored off Santa Catalina Island, but didn’t stay because there were too many tourists. Instead, after a brief trip to Avalon for more supplies, they headed on north towards the grouping of Santa Cruz and Anacapa, Santa Rosa and San Miguel, which were uninhabited and less popular with tourists.

Sam took them in a wide circle before finally settling on an anchorage point near Santa Rosa for another night, before heading to Point Conception on the Santa Barbara coast. They found a quiet cove and agreed to stay there for the rest of the week.

That night, Callen woke in the quiet early hours, not sure what had disturbed him. Sam slept on beside him, oblivious, but Callen didn’t think he could settle again. He carefully slipped from the bed and padded up on deck barefoot, not bothering with anything more than the T-shirt and shorts he wore.

It was a fine, clear night so he lay down on the deck, looking up at the dazzling array of stars in the sky above him. He stayed like that for a while, eventually drifting into a light doze, before the familiar tread of his partner brought him to full alertness once more.

“G?” Sam spoke softly in deference to the quiet night.

Callen pushed to a sitting position and managed a small smile for his partner. “Hey,” he said equally quietly.

Sam settled down next to him. “You okay?”

“Not really,” Callen said.

“You want to talk about it?”

“Not really,” Callen repeated, echoing the conversation in the boatshed before they’d found out the truth about Katie Miller. 

“G,” Sam said with a hint of warning in his tone.

Callen turned his head to look at him. “Not yet Sam,” he said. “But when I’m ready, I promise you’ll be the one I tell.”

“Alright,” Sam accepted the remark, shifting to rest against the side of the boat and Callen moved to sit between his legs, at Sam’s gesture. 

Sam put his arms around him and Callen settled back into his partner’s body, turning to rest his head against Sam’s chest.

They stayed like that for a while, enjoying each other’s presence and the quiet, not feeling the need to talk. It was one of the things Callen had always liked about his partner – the ability to be quiet in the moment, but ready to talk when Callen was. 

“Hey Sam,” Callen eventually said, quietly.

“Yeah G,” Sam’s breath tickled his ear, but Callen made no move to shift away from it.

Callen breathed deeply for a moment, gathering his thoughts. “Just thank you,” he started. “I don’t know if I’d be here without you.”

Sam made a sound of protest at that and tightened his grip. Callen patted his hand in apology, before going on.

“I never had anyone growing up,” he said, knowing it wasn’t news to his partner, but still trying to find his way through what he wanted to say. “You know that Hetty took me in when I was fifteen, but it wasn’t like I automatically trusted her or anything. It took a long time before I felt like I could tell her anything and even then it wasn’t easy. I didn’t see how this strange little woman could understand what a teenaged boy was going through.”

Sam chuckled at that, but didn’t interrupt Callen’s flow. After a minute, he continued again. “There have been relationships over the years, but none of them were really serious.”

“Not even Tracey Rossetti?” Sam asked.

Callen shook his head. “We might have been married,” he said wryly, sure Sam could hear the quotes as he said it. “But it wasn’t a real relationship like yours and Michelles’ or even Kensi and Deeks. I wanted to trust her, but I guess deep down, I never really did. I wasn’t that surprised by her betrayal.”

“What about since her?” Sam asked. “There must have been others.”

Callen sighed. “Until Joelle, any other relationships I had were undercover,” he told his partner. “None of them were real.”

“Like Jason Tedrow,” Sam supplied.

Callen winced. He still hated remembering those cases and who much he’d enjoyed being Tedrow. “Yeah, just like that,” he agreed. “Any time I was with anyone outside of work, it was just casual stuff.”

“They weren’t all women either were they?” Sam asked gently.

Callen wasn’t surprised by the question. He’d guessed his partner had figured out he had previous experience with men when they’d gotten together.

“No, but they were never relationships, mostly just one nighters,” he said.

“Why are you telling me all this G?” Sam asked.

Callen shifted so that he was facing his partner. “Because I want to be sure you understand how important this,” he gestured between them. “Is to me. How important you are to me,” he added, emphasizing the word “you”, to make sure Sam got it. “I never really loved anyone before and this relationship is the biggest thing that’s ever happened to me. I don’t want to mess it up.”

Sam pulled him back in close again and pressed their mouths together in a thorough kiss. “I love you G,” he said when he finally pulled back. “This means everything to me as well. You know how messed up I was when Michelle died, that I never thought I could experience anything like that again. I certainly didn’t think it would be with my male partner, the guy I thought was my brother.”

They looked at each other for a minute, eyes full of emotions. Sam broke the silence first. “Thank you for giving this to me,” he said. “For giving me your heart. It’s a gift I promise to treasure for as long as you’ll have me.”

Callen fought with his emotions at Sam’s declaration, but couldn’t help the way tears filled his eyes. “Thank you for letting me trust you and trusting me back,” he whispered in a choked voice.

They held on to each other, letting themselves feel their emotions, in the quiet of the night and Callen thought maybe something healed inside both of them in the last few minutes.


End file.
